Wayne County Life

   Hoteling was standing outside, cars going by, and passersby stopping to shake his hand or give him a hug. Small-town political victories don’t get much sweeter than this.

   The last time dissolution came to a vote was two years ago, when the margin of victory was 29 votes in a 257-228 tally. Tonight, nine more people voted, but the margin of victory was higher – 96 votes. But some 400 residents sat on their hands and didn’t vote.

   Hoteling brought that up. “Two years ago was a lot closer. Since then we didn’t make too much in the way of inroads of the 400 people who don’t seem to want to come to the polling place. We did take some people away from their vote from two years ago.”

   The reason for the swing toward keeping Macedon a village?

   “I think people finally got educated,” Hoteling said. “A lot of it had to do with our efforts in revitalizing the downtown, with people appreciating that we’re making strides in the right direction. They realize our village isn’t deep in debt – which is why most villages dissolve. We have a bond on a fire truck and that’s it. We have the second-lowest tax rate in Wayne County.”

   Dissolution would have saved money, proponents argued, voiced in the One Macedon campaign. Hoteling said the projections of cost savings were vastly overcooked, and might bring a savings of $100 a year or so for someone with a $100,000 home. Dissolution would have also cost the jobs of seven village employees.  

   “People finally saw things clearly,” he said. “What were we going to save here? Do you want to do this and disrupt the lives of seven faithful full-time village employees? They saw this wasn’t the way to go.”

   When the dollars didn’t seem as compelling, when letting seven people go that many people knew, other, more visceral feelings came into play.

   “A lot of people felt they were going to lose an identity,” Hoteling said. “We have three roads coming into the village and they all say, ‘Welcome to the Village of Macedon.’ You’d be surprised how many people said to me, “We will have to take down our entry signs.’ As crazy as that sounds, they didn’t want to give up that identity.

   “I’m just totally elated those things did cause this thing not to happen.”

   The village has now dodged the bullet again and based on remarks Hoteling heard from One Macedon standard-bearer Jim Beckenback during the evening, this will be the last campaign for some time.

   Hoteling hopes the matter is now settled.

   “There is just one trustee and me left on the board from the last two times we went through this exercise. I was the only one on the board that was doing anything to fight this (One Macedon) group. I can’t tell you, it feels so good.

   “We tried to keep this issue completely away from tax money, but there’s still a certain amount that had to be spent. This is very costly and unnecessary,” Hoteling said.

   Village Pride, the group that organized to fight dissolution, was a major factor in tonight’s vote, Hoteling said.

   “They worked with me on this and I worked with them. It was fantastic. It was a nice group to work with and they worked long and hard. Some of the emotion came out tonight. I was doing an interview with Channel 13, I think, and there were some tears that came. I was thinking at just that moment about Village Pride and their effort and how it paid off.

   “I just feel fantastic. Now I’m going to go celebrate.”